Spent a couple of weeks in Israel.
Mostly in Rehovot but a little in Bet Shean and Yavne.
Rode Egged buses between the towns (with change of vehicles in Tel Aviv's 7-layer Central Bus Station.
Maybe the best way to see Israel is from a seat on one of Egged's cruisers.
The buses - at least the inter-city buses - were clean and the windows panoramic. The air conditioning is enough to keep an ice cube happy, but it can be controlled by each individual passenger - similar to sitting in a plane. The seats are equally uncomfortable.
About the worst times to ride the bus are Sunday morning, the beginning of Israel's work week, and Thursday afternoon or Friday. It was standing room only from Afula to Tel Aviv, but since I got on in Bet Shean I had a window seat the entire trip.
I did have one problem on the ride between Rehovot and Tel Aviv - several soldiers offered give me their seats - suddenly I felt "old", which of course I am not (he said trying to sound convincing). I declined the offers.
I've never been to Rome - well, never outside the airport, anyway - so I won't write that Israelis are the world's worst drivers, but if they are not, they have to be a close second. Too many cars, too little road; too many immigrants bringing their own driving "styles" and too many sabras who either are just aggressive or believe they are "entitled" to be jerks behind the wheel. Scooter drivers are an accident going someplace to happen, although I witnessed only one accident during my stay and that did NOT seem to include a scooter.
I've driven in Manhattan; I think its "less insane" than Rehovot, a Tel Aviv suburb. The noise is Manhattan-like; Mayor "No Horn Tooting Allowed" Bloomberg would have a fit.
All the more reason to let someone else do the driving. I rode with 4 different drivers; of the 4, only one was quick on the horn.
It's something an American finds unusual . . . stowing luggage in a baggage compartment. In the "old days" when some of us crossed country on Trailways or Greydogs, luggage was stowed below, put there by porters. Here is it DIYשרות עצמי. If your final destination is short of the bus' final destination, you get off at your stop and the driver opens - electronically by pushing a button next to his seat - the baggage area and you find and remove your baggage. When you clear the area, the driver closes the door - again by a push of a button - and off goes the bus. I suppose that equates to stowing bicycles on a bus in the U.S.
I often rail against the dateem דתים for hiding out in yeshivot, I will happily report that I saw a number of soldiers with kippot and a few with payot (vs. peyote). One lad on the trip from Bet Shean had flowing payot but otherwise was "just a soldier." Actually, I suspect - I didn't pay attention - that the lad was in the paratroops. There even was a datee girl on board, at least the fact that she wore a uniform skirt suggested that she was observant.
Going up
No matter where you go in Israel, be it Big City (Tel Aviv/Rehovot area), small and medium size towns (Afula, Bet Shean), or kifarim - Jewish, Moslem, or otherwise - one thing all have in common: new building.
If anyone thinks the Moslems are being held back or held down, ride a bus between Hadara and Afula. You'll pass several Moslem - I know they are Moslem because of the rising-above-all minarets from which modern Moslems are called, now by recording, to prayer - communities; Umm al-Fahm is a prime example. Umm al-Fahm, like Kitsir Harish and Baqa Jatt sit right on the '67 border, just inside the so-called "Green Line." When a new Palestinian state is created - Jordan already is a Palestinian state - would these currently Israeli residents opt to "cross over the line?" Good question
Bet Shean is mostly populated by North Africans. There are some folks from Ethiopia and from time to time the government has tried - and each time failed miserably - to settle Russians in the Jordon Valley town.
The Russians escape Bet Shean as quickly as possible - it's far too hot and humid; think Miami in June and July - and the North Africans won't tolerate "white steak" (pork) or prostitution in their town. A few Ashkenazim manage to tolerate the heat and the North African's "strange ways."
Long way to get from "Here" to "There"
Mostly because the Suddenly Palestinians (new since the mid-1960s) - those folks who want peace with the getting less-and-less so "Jewish state" but still attack Jews at every opportunity, who insist on stoning "Jewish" vehicles - to get from Tel Aviv to Bet Shean means a long, round-about trip.
From Tel Aviv, the bus travels north to Hadera on the Coast Road and then heads northeast to Afula. Unless the traveler is on one of the few "direct" buses to Bet Shean, there is a change of buses here. Afula is "the next bigger town" from Bet Shean; it has the regional hospital (although Bet Shean has a small hospital of its own). From Afula the bus heads southeast to Bet Shean. Total travel time: More than 3 hours. If only there was a safe direct route, but for the moment, such a route does not exist.
Rehovot, new Yavne, and Lod - as well as Holon and Bat Yam - are, like Tel Aviv, within the 1967 borders.
Within the borders, but not without Arab residential pockets. (Is Israel segregating its Arab population? I suspect the answer is more that people tend to congregate with their own. Look at your own communities.)
My son-in-law's parents live in new Yavne - new as in "not the same as Akiva's Yavne." His father loves to play tour guide - a job he does very well, indeed - and finds the time when I'm in the area to show off not only Yavne but adjacent communities as well. This time Yafo was the site of a shank's mare tour. One of the tour highlights that everyone has to see is the coastline from Yafo to Tel Aviv. At one time, Yafo was a major port city and the evidence remains to this day; yachts of various sizes snuggle against the piers.
Yafo's a little more than a stone's throw from Yavne and retains a flavor of old Israel, including a large outdoor shuk - in this case, read "flea market." Of course the ubiquitous bagel & bread and lemonade kiosks also were present.
Bagel break in YafoMy host and tour guide took us to Yafo in his "jeep."
The folks who make the REAL Jeep might object, but in Israel anything with 4WD is a "jeep." His is a Suzuki. Unlike a Jeep-with-a-capital-J, the Suzuki is more suitable to Israel's NIS 7.50/litre prices. (http://www.onlineconversion.com/volume.htm)
If anyone wants to "do the math," there are 3.785 litres in a gallon.
As I cobble this together, the New Israel Shekel, a/k/a NIS, is 3.89527 for each U.S. dollar at most official money changers; banks and airport currency exchangers will get you less. (http://www.onlineconversion.com/currency_conversion.htm)
Assume a 15-gallon (56.775 litre) fill up.
At NIS 7.50/litre, that comes up to NIS 425.8125, or a bit more than US$109.
Unless, of course, my math is wrong.
